The Labor enquirer., 1887-12-10
GOOD VS.. EVIL.
Our System Has Within Il
the Very Elements of
Self D es(ruction.
PATCHWORK WON'T SAVE Us.

II tne Wild y DovotOfy Are NOT Found
Hanins anl Wrstshelness -"Civil.
izatisn' Isnspslisss Them.
For the ENQUIRER.
"Before beginning. and without an end,
Al space eternal end - surety sure.
II nxeda power divine which moves 70 good,
Only IL laws endure"
EDWIN ARNOLD.
1.-THE human race, conceived as q continu-
ous whole, 10 scouerste existence. This great
collective being il condition OF progress
towards perfection. "a. CoNrE.
In the beginningwas matter and
force acting on matter. And the
force was of two kinds, construct
i've. that people call God, and des-
tructive, that people call the Devil.
Between these two there was and
is everlasting war, until good shall
triumph.
The constructive force bound
together particles of matter, and
the earth was formed, it gathered
certain elements in fixed proper
tions, and there was a tenement of
life. endowed with a constructive
force Of its own, to multiply upon
the earth.
Life increased and multiplied,
and the lives of minutest. organ
isms bound themselves together
to form a nobler being, gradually
evolved to man. Man, the triumph
of good, was not without the inhu-
ence of evil, for just as a great
tower of many bricks may fall
with a crash to, the earth, so man,
attacked by disease, dies and is
resolved intohis original elements.
Man and man bound themselves
together for the common cause,
the overcoming of evil, and formed
society, by which a greater devel-
opment was possible.
Such is the history of life, such
are the aims of existence and the
of society. Do we recog-
nize these aims, does society full
fill its functions2 l think not.
Who is there that does not de-
sire to be happy. definitely joyous,
not merely free from misery as in
sleep1 And happiness, is it not
the sense of triumph of harmony
over discord, of the spirit of con-
struction over that of destruction1
Surely, yes. The aim of life, there
fore, is to build, not to destroy.
to bring together discordant ele-
ments in one general harmony, to
unite for happiness, and develop
ment, the means of happiness.
Some have said, to be happy is
to be without misery, and since
those who feel least are least mis-
erable. a low condition of exist
ence is favorable to happiness.
Often a rich man will say: "See
me. with my education and splen-
did opportunities for development,
and yet now miserable; see that
peasant, ignorant, illiterate, yet
happy! Surely ignorance is blissP
No, ignorance is not bliss, but i'll
applied knowledge is misery in
deed, and therein lies the fallacy.
1t is easy, having nothing. to man
age it we'll: it IS hard to do so,
having much; but is this an argu-.
ment for poverty or ignorancef
During the last few centuries
the means of good have grown
enormously. knowledge has in
creased, and has become more and
more accessible, machinery TAX
ing the place of hand labor, has
wonderfully cheapened produc-
ton; surely, all should bewell, and
the man of to-day should enjoy
life better than he of long ago.
Does he7
All the evidence. overwhelming
evidence, goes to show that with
come few exce0tions, he does not.